Mighty Ducks get Wild; Senators rule

AP , ST. PAUL, MINNESOTA

Jean-Sebastien Giguere continued his postseason brilliance with 39 saves, and Petr Sykora scored 8:06 into the second overtime as the Anaheim Mighty Ducks beat the Minnesota Wild 1-0 in the opener of the Western Conference finals.

The seventh-seeded Mighty Ducks improved to 5-0 in overtime in these playoffs and 9-1 in one-goal games. Anaheim, which eliminated No. 1 Dallas and No. 2 Detroit en route to the conference finals, is also 5-1 on the road.

The Mighty Ducks, outshot 39-26 by the No. 6 Wild, couldn't muster much of an attack. Sykora's goal was their first shot of the second overtime.

Manny Fernandez made 25 saves for Minnesota.

Senators 3, Devils 2, OT

In Ottawa, Shaun Van Allen tipped Martin Havlat's pass into a wide-open net 3:08 into overtime, lifting Ottawa to an Eastern Conference finals opening victory over the New Jersey Devils. The Senators won despite squandering an early 2-0 lead. The Presidents' Trophy winners haven't lost a playoff game this year in which they've scored. Ottawa was shut out once by the New York Islanders and twice by Philadelphia in the first two rounds. It was Van Allen's first playoff goal in 55 career games.

Chris Neil and Todd White also scored for the Senators, making their first third-round appearance in their 11-year history. Patrick Lalime finished with 32 saves, and set a playoff record with his 11th straight game of allowing two goals or fewer.

Joe Nieuwendyk and Jay Pandolfo scored for the Devils, and Martin Brodeur made 27 saves. New Jersey is in the Eastern Conference finals for the third time in four years.